Garden Planner, Sept. 7

Sep. 6, 2013

Written by

Stephanie Bruner

Special to the Register

This week

• At the end of another dry summer, it may be time to evaluate which plants do well in your yard with the water you’re able to provide. Think of your garden in zones, with the plants requiring the most water clustered together near the house, where it’s easy to keep them moist. Farther from the house, plant tough, drought-resistant perennials and shrubs that can handle a dry summer without extra watering.

• Speaking of water, you’ll need to keep it up. As the weather cools down, plants will start to look better, but the ground is still very dry. To keep plants in good shape heading into winter, you’ll need to keep them watered until the ground freezes.

• Now is a good time to seed new lawn areas, or overseed areas that need renovation. If you’re overseeding, rake the area vigorously first, so that seeds can make contact with the soil instead of with dead, dry grass stems.

• While you’re working on the lawn, fall is a good time to kill many broadleaf weeds. Exercise care when using herbicides — keep them away from other plants, and keep children and pets away from areas where you’ve sprayed.

• If you find snowdrops or colchicum bulbs for sale, you can go ahead and plant them now. But it’s still too early to plant other bulbs.

This month

• Fall is a good time to plant trees. Evergreens do best if planted by the end of September, but you can plant deciduous trees into November. Be sure to keep them watered — about an inch of water a week will keep them going strong.

• As you start fall cleanup, be careful what you throw in your compost pile. Home compost piles don’t get hot enough to kill weed seeds. They also don’t get hot enough to kill most disease-causing organisms, so if you’re cutting back plants that show signs of bacterial or fungal infection, bury them or dispose of them in the trash.

Stephanie Bruner is a freelance writer from Des Moines who has a degree in horticulture.